Michael Graves

An article in this month’s Metropolitan Home made me aware that Michael Graves, of Target appliance fame, is now One of Us. The Met Home article about Graves’ adaption of his home for wheelchair accessibility is superficial, but this SFGate.com article is somewhat more informative.

“None of them was designed for people like me,” said Graves. “You take your wheelchair into the bathroom — the mirror is above your head; you can’t reach the faucets. It’s almost like they are going, ‘Ha, ha, ha, gotcha! ‘ It’s a mean trick.”

The experience has been eye-opening. Though he considered issues relating to accessibility before he became paralyzed — for several years, for example, he’s been working on a Washington charter school for children with severe disabilities — what he didn’t understand until recently was the extent of the impediments to accessibility in public spaces.